Two years' worth of gold in one day for Rogers

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London: Michael Rogers made up for his disappointment in the Athens Olympic time trial by collecting the gold medal in the world championships on Wednesday - twice.

The Australian stepped onto the podium in Bardolino, Italy, to collect the 2003 gold medal in the morning and, six hours later, was back on the dais to pick up this year's prize.

"All I was thinking about in the ceremony in the morning was [the] afternoon, to see if I [could] make it two for the day," Rogers said. "I think I'm the only cyclist in the history of the sport to receive two gold medals on the same day for the same event from different years. But it's much better to win it this way."

Rogers, 24, was declared the 2003 road world champion last month after Britain's David Millar admitted using the banned substance EPO and was stripped of his gold medal.

Wednesday was the first chance officials had to swap his medals. Rogers then defended his newly inherited title in style.

He covered the 46.75kilometre course in 57 minutes 30.12 seconds to power to an emphatic win, 1:12.43 ahead of Germany's Michael Rich, with Alexandre Vinokourov from Kazakhstan in third.

The Canberra rider said his triumph made up for finishing fourth in the Athens Olympics in August, when he missed out on a medal by three seconds. "It certainly does. I was a little disappointed that it didn't go as well as I would have liked at the Olympics," he said.

"Maybe it worked out for the better. It gave me a lot of motivation for today - I didn't want to finish anywhere but first."

Rogers's task was made a little easier by the absence of all three Olympic medallists. The Athens champion, American Tyler Hamilton, is under investigation after a failed drugs test, while silver medallist Viatcheslav Ekimov and bronze winner Bobby Julich both decided to rest after the Games.

"I would think even if they were here, I would have beaten them all," Rogers said. "I was in much better condition today than I was at the Olympics. Who's there [and] who's not doesn't really matter."

Rogers dedicated the victory to the memory of his late friend and Canberra training partner Mark Carter, who died from head injuries sustained in an accident in April. "I think Mark was here with me today," he said.

Next for Rogers is Sunday's 265.5km road race in Verona.

He pulled out of the road race halfway through the event in debilitating heat in Athens to save himself for the time trial four days later. But with the schedule reversed in Italy, he is aiming for a strong finish.

"I'm going in with a free mind after today's result; anything could happen," he said.

"It's good having the time trial first. It gets it out of the way and then I can give my absolute best and I don't have to worry about conserving myself in the road race."